


whisk you off on an adventure

by noyabeans (snowdrops)



Series: writing with snowdrops (timeskip arc) [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Headcanon, M/M, Missing Scene, Shippy Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22158262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowdrops/pseuds/noyabeans
Summary: —to the other side of Sendai, at least.Contains spoilers for the current manga arc, up to chapter 379.
Relationships: Ennoshita Chikara & Nishinoya Yuu, Ennoshita Chikara/Nishinoya Yuu
Series: writing with snowdrops (timeskip arc) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608889
Comments: 4
Kudos: 52





	whisk you off on an adventure

**Author's Note:**

> [ao3 user asofthaven](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22152271) and I samebrained so hard, we wrote the same headcanon. Ennonoya nation rise!!
> 
> Nishinoya Yuu, we're waiting for you!!  
> 

“You didn’t have to do this, you know,” Ennoshita says when he pulls open the car door and slides into the passenger seat. “I would have been fine just watching it on TV. They have close-ups and all.”

Nishinoya flashes him a quick grin from behind the wheel, all sharp teeth and bright. His hair is gelled backwards today like he used to when they were in Karasuno; it’s a look Ennoshita hasn’t seen in years. “C’mon, Chikara, what’s with that courtesy, I was heading there anyway! And it’s Kageyama and Shouyou! Of course you’re gonna want to see them play with your own eyes!”

“This place isn’t even close to the highway,” Ennoshita argues weakly. The clinic is on the outskirts of Sendai, on the opposite side of the city from the Arena nonetheless. He’s still trying to register how his day went from _grab a bento, then go home and watch the Adler-Jackal match on TV_ to checking his phone to 3 missed calls and 10 unread texts that said in various permutations _I’m coming to pick you up, I’ll wait for you around the corner, Chikara!!_

“Stop fretting, we’re already on the way,” Nishinoya says, carefree as ever, as he pulls out of the small road where he’d been waiting.

“Thanks, I guess. Your team plays the Tigers in the afternoon, right? How’d you even get the car?”

That earns him another brilliant smile from Nishinoya, who tears his eyes off the road to shine at him. “Chikara!! You’ve been keeping up with my matches after all!” Ennoshita can already imagine his tail wagging frantically in excitement. “Even though you’ve never come see me play!”

“Keep your eyes on the road,” Ennoshita flusters. “I keep an eye out for all the League games in Sendai. And it’s not like I can just go to Tokyo or Hiroshima or whichever part of Japan you’re at and watch you play.” If he happens to pay a little bit more attention to the Stormbird schedule and only ever watches Stormbird matches on live broadcast, Nishinoya doesn’t need to know.

There’s a smile still dancing by Nishinoya’s lips as he drives through the small streets, a little too fast than should be safe for the suburbs. “My family drove down to Sendai last night, so I stayed with them and took the car. It’s just as well that the Adlers and Black Jackals are playing the first match today, so I can meet my team straight after!”

“You can just do that?” Ennoshita asks, incredulous. “Scrap that, your coach _allowed_ his starting libero to do this on the day of a league match? Aren’t you guys supposed to move as a team and stuff?”

Nishinoya laughs at that. “You know I wouldn’t miss this match for the world! Coach was cool with it when I talked to him, he knows it’s my home base, and I’ve been in tip-top shape lately. Anyway, how was work? Is Matsuda doing fine? It’s been a while since I dropped by.”

“Ah, yeah—”

It’s been slightly over four months since they last saw each other. Ennoshita isn’t intentionally keeping track, but he remembers because it’s been even longer since Nishinoya visited the clinic. Nishinoya somehow makes time every few months to come back to Sendai, though hardly ever for more than a day trip. The only exceptions are when he comes by for therapy, after which Ennoshita always brings him out to lunch.

Experience is a good teacher, and it has taught him that it’s safer this way, so Ennoshita talks as Nishinoya drives. The long road to Kamei Arena leads them through the winding suburbs, out into the countryside lined with wide fields and transmission towers, then back into the more cluttered residential areas. He tells Nishinoya about Matsuda’s baby, the way she had grabbed at Ennoshita’s finger when Matsuda brought her into work for the first time last month. He tells Nishinoya about bumping into Dateko’s Futakuchi last week at the ramen store, and how they had ended up eating dinner together. Nishinoya guffaws and snorts and makes the odd remark, but mostly he listens, keeping his eyes on the road.

Eventually, as they round the last road towards the Arena, Ennoshita lets himself take a proper look at his chauffeur for the day. Nishinoya doesn’t wear his hair up anymore — not all of it, anyway — though clearly he’s made an exception for today. The morning sunlight is scattering gold in his eyes, the buzzing warmth in them the same as what Ennoshita fell a little in love with, all those years ago. They are turned away from Ennoshita now — it feels like they have been, for a long time, to a future and a world Ennoshita no longer exists in.

But now is not the time for melancholy. Today they are two friends here to watch their juniors play each other to tie up the loose ends they had left behind in high school.

Not all loose ends get such neat knots, he muses as Nishinoya pulls the car to a stop. He gets out first, looking up at the gymnasium as Nishinoya locks the doors. The last time he was here, they still called it the Sendai City Gymnasium. At the time, they’d just barely qualified for the Spring Tournament; he still remembers shaking hands with Yahaba one last time in this carpark as they parted ways for their separate buses, the other’s face a blank expression that Ennoshita had long learnt to see through after a whole year of training matches together.

“Chikara, Chikara, look,” Nishinoya says, breaking him out of his train of thought with a tug on his sleeve. Ennoshita looks up to find the V-league banner with its familiar faces, Kageyama in the center of them all.

“It’s not my first time seeing this, you know,” he says, though he can’t help a smile at the expectant look on Nishinoya’s face. “When do we get to see you up there, huh? I don’t see the Stormbirds,” he adds, eyes flicking pointedly at Komori in the bottom left of the banner. To his surprise, Nishinoya flushes.

“The heck! That’s embarrassing, my mum would come here and take selfies with it instead of me!”

“So would I,” Ennoshita teases, and is rewarded by the look of sore betrayal that Nishinoya grants him.

“You don’t even send _me_ selfies, Chikara!”

“There’s nothing interesting about me to send selfies for,” Ennoshita says, even as Nishinoya turns, pulling him along by the wrist towards the main entrance. “It’s not like I’m partying it up at three in the morning at some pub in Nagoya—”

“That was _one time_ , and I was drunk!” Nishinoya protests. “And it’s not like that was the only time!”

“No, it wasn’t,” Ennoshita acquiesces. He has a good collection of Nishinoya’s selfies now — some of which Nishinoya sends to their group chat with Tanaka and the others, some of which Nishinoya sends over private message. “It’s like I’ll forget your face someday.”

“It’s a reminder of how I look like, in case you forget after not seeing me for too long,” Nishinoya corrects him.

“Sure,” Ennoshita says placidly, but he’s smiling too. The lobby of the gymnasium is empty save for a few other stragglers; the match must be starting soon. That they made it in time at all is an impressive feat, Ennoshita has to admit. The Moon Face hanging on the wall still looks down on them as it did back in their time at Karasuno. Nishinoya taps at his phone, checking something on his LINE, before looking up at him. Caught in his gaze, Ennoshita freezes.

“Where are we going?” he asks, in the same moment that Nishinoya says, “Chikara—”

There’s something flickering uncertain in Nishinoya’s eyes, before he says, too loudly for the quiet lobby, “Stay for my match later, wouldya?”

Ennoshita stares at him, ignoring the way his heart leaps into his throat. “What’s with that sudden courtesy? You already brought me here, to the other side of town from home, right?”

Nishinoya grins, eyes alight and not the slightest bit guilty. “I’ll drive you back, don’t worry!”

He turns before Ennoshita can say “I don’t think you’ll have the energy to” and tugs Ennoshita into the main arena. It’s rowdy here, the rows packed with spectators and cheer teams. It smells like Air Salonpas. The teams are already out on the court — Ennoshita can barely make out a speck of orange hair in a black jersey. Nishinoya walks with purpose and parts a way through the crowd; Ennoshita lets himself be led.

**Author's Note:**

> During the V-League, all V-League teams play [one match a day per tournament leg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018%E2%80%9319_V.League_Division_1_Men%27s#Leg_1_2); usually four teams (two matches) will play in the same arena on the same day, with one match in the morning and one match in the afternoon. 
> 
> [tumblr (rielity)](https://rielity.tumblr.com/) | [twitter (noyabeans)](https://twitter.com/noyabeans) | [haikyuu writing journal](https://noyabeans.dreamwidth.org/) ([ **fic-specific reflection entry**](https://noyabeans.dreamwidth.org/25300.html))


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